I spent 3 months building a prediction market on Base as solo Dev

Hey IH 👋 I'm Marcos, a backend dev. I built Bopster — a non-custodial prediction market on Base where anyone can create their own YES/NO market and the creator earns 1% of every pool.

The product

Instead of a platform deciding which markets exist, anyone launches one. 8 categories (Crypto, Tech, AI, Sports, Gaming, Politics, Memes, Culture). Write a question, add a source URL for verification, set dates, launch. People take sides with USDC. The community resolves outcomes on-chain via Reality.eth with Kleros as arbitration. No email signup, no custody — wallet-only access.

The incentive: market creators earn 1% of the pool automatically when people participate. You don't need to trade. You just create a question your community debates and earn from the activity.

There are also rewards for backing the right side, settling markets on-chain, and submitting correct oracle answers.

The stack

Solidity smart contracts on Base, PHP backend, Vue frontend, WalletConnect. USDC for markets, ETH for gas and oracle bonds. Reality.eth for the oracle, Kleros for arbitration.

Where I am

The product is functional. Early access is live. I'm on week 2 of distribution — the app works, now I need people testing it and giving feedback. I've been publishing on Reddit (r/alphaandbetausers, r/roastmystartup, r/startups, r/BASE, r/web3, r/SideProject) and launched on Product Hunt. The posts are getting replies and DMs from people curious about the community-creation model.

Where I'm stuck

I'm a backend dev. Building the thing was the hard part I knew how to solve. Getting users to try it is the hard part I don't.

My current strategy is manual outreach: cold DMs to prediction market users, participating in Discord communities, founder calls with early testers, and content on Reddit. It's working but it's slow. Each user requires individual conversation → demo → onboarding → feedback loop. That's fine for the first 20, but it doesn't scale.

What I'd love help with

Marketing channels for a crypto product in early access. I'm on Reddit and PH. What else works for finding crypto-native early adopters who'll actually connect a wallet and test — not just upvote and leave?
The messaging. The product is non-custodial, on-chain, community-resolved. That's differentiated but also complex to explain. How do you compress "decentralized oracle resolution with bond escalation and Kleros arbitration" into something someone understands in 5 seconds?
Solo founder go-to-market. For those who built a technical product alone — did you bring on someone for distribution, or did you learn marketing yourself? What worked?
One thing I'm clear on

No token, no ICO, no airdrop. Revenue comes from protocol fees on market pools. That removes a growth lever but keeps the business model clean.

I'll be in the comments. If you've launched a crypto product or solved cold-start for a marketplace, I'd love to hear what worked.